


I'll hold you, even when the world turns its back on you

by hakyeonni



Series: little incubus [3]
Category: VIXX
Genre: Alternate Universe - Succubi & Incubi, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-04
Updated: 2016-08-04
Packaged: 2018-07-29 05:14:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7671481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hakyeonni/pseuds/hakyeonni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>hakyeon learns the consequences of jaehwan's company — the hard way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll hold you, even when the world turns its back on you

“Hakyeon.”

Wonshik’s voice is low, just barely above a whisper, only meant for his ears. That’s the first sign that something’s wrong, because Wonshik’s hardly ever that quiet. The second sign is that he’s perfectly serious, grabbing Hakyeon by the arm and yanking him close. Wonshik’s barely ever serious, except when he’s hunting, and they’re on the way home from that, the three of them having had their fill.

“What?” Hakyeon says irritably, shaking his arm free from Wonshik’s too-strong grip.

Wonshik just shakes his head, his eyes narrowed, and Hakyeon watches as he bares his teeth, his fangs running out. It’s this that finally makes him realise something’s wrong, and he waves Hongbin over, too. Wonshik has paused at the entrance to a lane, and he’s flaring his nostrils like he can smell something. Hongbin picks up the scent as well, and Hakyeon watches as the both of them growl silently into the darkness.

“What is it?” he asks, quietly, because for all he knows, with how his life has been going lately, a demon might be lurking in the alleyway specifically to cause trouble just for him.

Wonshik looks at him, and his eyes are glowing a startling crimson. “I smell something. It’s like death, but there’s...”

“Magic,” Hongbin supplies helpfully. “I smell magic.”

Without another word, the two of them head into the laneway. Hakyeon only errs for a moment before following them; he might be weak in comparison, but they’re his best friends whether he likes it or not, and they tend to stick together as a rule. So he follows them down the lane and around the corner, fully prepared to shift into something horrific if he needs to.

As it turns out he doesn’t need to, because when they round the corner they’re faced with what the other two had been able to smell: a dead body, lying crumpled on the asphalt. Hakyeon winces, but then gasps when he takes another step closer and sees what the creature is. She’s unfamiliar, petite and with long black hair, but her appearance doesn’t matter when something in Hakyeon recognises as one of his own, a succubus. Her throat has been slit wide open, a clean, gaping gash, but there’s no blood.

“Do you know her?” Wonshik murmurs, drawing up alongside Hakyeon and looking down at her body. “Is she a local?”

Hakyeon shakes his head, slightly dazed. All false immortals deal in death – Wonshik and Hongbin walk the knife edge between killing and not killing every time they feed, and even Hakyeon can take a mortal’s life if he gets carried away while feeding. But this is different, this is one of their own, this is one of _his_ own, and he’d heard the rumours but to have them confirmed is painful. “No, I’ve never seen her before. What happened to her blood?”

Hongbin circles the body of the succubus carefully, his nostrils flaring as he reads the situation as much as he can. They’ve been friends for so long – Hakyeon watched Hongbin rise again as a vampire – that as Hongbin looks up at him and smiles wryly, Hakyeon can tell that he wishes he had Hakyeon’s shapeshifting powers. No doubt he’d shift into a labrador or something that could smell better than he could, but it’s no use for Hakyeon to do so when he doesn’t know what he’s looking for like Hongbin does.

“She wasn’t killed here,” Hongbin says, shaking his head ruefully. “Not a drop of blood anywhere. All I can smell is death. And…” He looks up at Hakyeon, pressing his lips together.

Hakyeon shifts on his feet and crosses his arms. “And?”

Wonshik looks at him evenly, and he looks uncomfortable, just like Hongbin does. “He can smell true immortal. I can too. She reeks of it.”

Hakyeon blinks at them both, and then looks down at the succubus, and then back up at them, somewhat comically. He can’t smell a damn thing – vampire senses are honed, his not so much – so he’ll have to take their word for it, but he knows they aren’t lying. They both can’t quite meet his eyes, and he bristles, suddenly realising what they’re getting at.

“Are you suggesting a nephilim did this?” he asks, his voice too loud and high.

Hongbin manages to meet Hakyeon’s eyes, and he shrugs somewhat awkwardly. “That’s not what I said… But it’s the most logical conclusion.”

Taking an inadvertent step back, Hakyeon narrows his eyes. It’s stupid of him to get so defensive over Jaehwan, considering they fucked once and Hakyeon was the one to run away from him and demand he not be followed. It’s stupid of him, and yet here he is, glaring at the other two like it’s an absurd suggestion. Hakyeon wishes he could reassure them that Jaehwan would never do something like that, but he just doesn’t _know_ – Jaehwan could be a murdering psychopath and he wouldn’t have the slightest clue. But still he feels personally offended that the others distrust Jaehwan so much, and that in itself is so telling that he reels away from it.

“I think that’s unfair,” Hakyeon starts, puffing himself up for a rant. “You don’t even know him! You haven’t met –”

Shaking his head, Wonshik cuts Hakyeon off. “We have to leave. You can yell at me later, but I’d rather not be hanging around in a dodgy alleyway with a dead succubus. Come on.”

Finding himself being tugged away by Hongbin, Hakyeon just glowers. Normally he’s the one bossing the other two around – god knows they need someone to do it – and to be mothered so rubs him the wrong way, especially when there’s a dead succubus lying behind them. But he knows to pick his battles, and this isn’t one he can win, so he just follows them to the apartment somewhat dejectedly. When he gets there he slumps down on the lounge, closing his eyes and listening to them as they bustle back and forth, Wonshik making calls to the appropriate people to report the body.

The last thing he hears before he drifts off is Hongbin whispering, “is he in too deep?”

Probably.

//

Hakyeon wakes to a pitch-black room, and for a moment forgets where he is, sitting up startled and disoriented. It’s only until he squints and sees the outline of Wonshik’s Ikea furniture that he realises he’s slept through the night here, and his internal body clock is now telling him it’s around 11 am.

Clambering to his feet to stretch, he winces. It’s not the first time he’s fallen asleep on Wonshik’s lounge, and he doesn’t think it will be the last, but each and every time he wakes up with a cricked neck and sore muscles. Why Wonshik doesn’t splurge on some nice furniture for a change is beyond Hakyeon, considering he’s rich, but vampires are funny about money like that, Wonshik especially so. Hakyeon himself goes through cycles of working in mundane mortal jobs and quitting and spending all the money he’s made (right now is a spending period), but Wonshik guards his money like it’s the key to his happiness.

Hakyeon pads into Wonshik’s bedroom and sees him sprawled across the entire length of his bed, legs akimbo, having kicked off his blanket in his sleep. Contrary to popular belief, vampires don’t sleep in coffins, and the older they are the less they actually need to sleep. Hongbin wouldn’t wake even if a cyclone blew through his room, but when Hakyeon tiptoes over to the bed and pulls the blanket back up over Wonshik, the vampire wakes up and blinks up at him blearily.

“Go home,” he growls, but he’s got a dozy smile on his face and he rolls lazily out of the way of Hakyeon’s swat. “Or go feed or something. Hongbin and I will be over tonight for the questioning. They’re sending an angel.”

He’d forgotten about the dead succubus, but Wonshik’s words bring it all back, and he frowns. “Alright. Go back to sleep.”

Wonshik yawns and rolls over, exposing his back to Hakyeon. “Okay. Stay safe. Don’t go near any nephilim,” he mutters, pulling the blankets over his head.

Hakyeon scowls at the lump under the blankets, wishing he could tell Wonshik that Jaehwan’s not _like_ that, but also not knowing why he wants to defend him so stalwartly. So he just snorts derisively and walks away, calling out over his shoulder, “if he really is killing false immortals, I’ll slip him your name.”

Letting himself out of the apartment, he spills onto the footpath and blinks blearily up at the sun. He doesn’t really _need_ to feed – they’d all got as full as possible last night, Hakyeon managing to bag three humans in a row and passing them on to the others when he was done – and he’s not even in the mood for it, which is laughable. An incubus not in the mood for sex is an oxymoron, but maybe it’s because when he tries to think about it all he can think about is Jaehwan, Jaehwan’s lips and hands and tattoos and eyes –

He starts in the direction of his apartment, shaking his head vehemently like he can clear his mind of the image. It’s been two weeks since he last saw Jaehwan, and the nephilim has stuck to his word and hasn’t followed Hakyeon. Or, if he has, he’s being subtle about it and not revealing himself, which is what Hakyeon _wanted_. Still wants, he reminds himself hastily, he still wants Jaehwan to leave him alone. He’s the most likely culprit for the murder, and it’s better for everyone if Hakyeon just stays away from it all and keeps his head down.

Or so he tells himself. It’s harder to actually believe it.

//

“I fucking hate angels,” Hakyeon complains when he opens the door.

Wonshik and Hongbin cock their heads at him at him in sync. They’re both wearing matching suits, their hair neatly styled, and they look so dapper that Hakyeon blinks. It’s so easy to forget how handsome they both are when Hakyeon so rarely sees them like this; most of the time they’re dirty and covered in blood, but tonight the occasion calls for some neatness.

“Necessary evil, I’m afraid,” Hongbin says, stepping inside and drawing Hakyeon into a quick hug, nuzzling his neck.

Hakyeon grimaces, his fingers digging into the fabric of Hongbin’s jacket. “Don’t bite me,” he warns, closing his eyes as Hongbin licks a stripe up his neck, the feeling surprisingly erotic.

“Yeah, don’t bite him, you _monster_ ,” Wonshik teases, shoving them aside and striding into the apartment, sitting down on Hakyeon’s sofa like he owns the place. “Stop being gross and get ready. The angel will be here any minute.”

Hakyeon pushes Hongbin away and sticks out his tongue playfully, noticing how Hongbin’s eyes are red and his fangs are out. As young as Hongbin is he needs to feed more often than Wonshik does, and even though Hakyeon isn’t exactly prey it’s easy for him to get carried away sometimes – it’s happened before. For his part, Hongbin just smiles apologetically at Hakyeon and steps around him to sit next to Wonshik, stretching out his long legs.

“Do you know anything about who they’re sending?” Hakyeon asks, turning away and shifting on a shirt and suit jacket and dress pants, not bothering with shoes in his own apartment.

Wonshik shakes his head. “You know the true immortals don’t talk about that kind of shit.”

The hierarchy of immortals is very loosely organised at best, and complete chaos at worst. Demons work for Hell, and angels for Heaven, and they’re constantly at war. Most nephilim don’t end up picking a side because they don’t quite belong to either and are distrusted by both, and false immortals generally aren’t involved with either side. Hakyeon’s known a few succubi and vampires that have worked for Hell, but he himself prefers to stay away from politics – life is a lot simpler that way, and he doesn’t have to worry about any angels or demons having it out for him. So to him, and Wonshik and Hongbin, the will of the angels is closed off to them – they pretty much do what they want. They are also irritatingly arrogant, tending to come and go as they please. Hakyeon’s developed a nice distrust for them over the years due to the numerous run-in’s he’s had, and figures it’s best to hate them from a distance.

“Want a drink?” he calls over his shoulder, heading into the kitchen and peering into the fridge. “I’ve got red bull, coke, wine, beer –”

He’s cut off by a rush of magic filling the apartment, magic he recognises as angelic. It almost tastes like flowers, but with a tinge of bitterness that has him scrunching up his nose and turning to face the angel who has just appeared in the middle of the lounge room. Hongbin and Wonshik are blinking up at him, startled, and Hakyeon has to stop himself smiling.

“Welcome,” he says politely, and gestures to the chair across from the two vampires. “Have a seat.”

The angel looks at him and narrows his eyes, and Hakyeon has to repress a shudder. All true immortals have shapeshifting powers just like him, but angels are too proud to ever shift away their features and appear human. This one has the usual inky black eyes and long fangs, and, of course, beautiful white wings that are so big the longest feathers brush the floor. Hakyeon absolutely forbids himself from thinking of Jaehwan – this is certainly _not_ the time or the place to think about hanging on desperately to an identical black wing while Jaehwan fucked him – and instead takes a seat next to Hongbin, baring his teeth at the angel and hoping that passes for a smile.

“I’m Taekwoon. I’ve been told you discovered a body?” the angel says, and his voice is soft and lilting – a surprise, because his face is angular and sharp, with high cheekbones and a pointed jaw, velvety rosebud-shaped lips.

Wonshik nods, every bit the professional. “Yeah. Hongbin and I smelled it when we were out hunting last night. We all knew she was a succubus, but Hakyeon didn’t recognise her.”

“I’ve never seen her before, or at least not in that body,” Hakyeon says, shrugging. The angel still hasn’t taken a seat and towers over all three of them, looking down at them with disinterest. “But I don’t know everyone, so that’s not a surprise.”

The angel nods, cocking his head to the side. There’s something so inhuman about the movement it makes Hakyeon’s skin crawl, which is idiotic; they’re all immortals, after all. But this being – Taekwoon, he reminds himself, it has a _name_ – has been around since the beginning of time, has seen civilisations rise and fall, and with that age comes a certain air that the others will never have.

“What did she look like?” Taekwoon asks.

Hongbin shifts next to Hakyeon, obviously uncomfortable – as the youngest out of all of them he hasn’t had much experience with angels and how offputting they are. “Um, she was small, really petite, and had long black hair. Her throat had been slit, but there was no blood, or anything, otherwise I would have smelt it. She must have been killed somewhere else and then moved there.”

“Obviously,” Taekwoon replies, smoothly. “Anything else?”

There’s a moment of silence. Hakyeon doesn’t want to look at the other two in case he gives the game away, but he also doesn’t want Hongbin to tell the angel what else he sensed on the succubus. It’s pointless, really, since angels can discern if someone's lying or telling the truth and would see through Hongbin straight away, but Jaehwan’s smiling face dances across his mind again and he bats it away.

“She smelt of… of true immortal. Really stunk of it. Like one of them had carried her or something, it was all over her,” Hongbin supplies, and Hakyeon clenches his teeth.

Taekwoon’s lips quiver, but just for a moment, and then he’s back to the expressionless mask. “Alright. Thank you for reporting this incident. We’ll investigate and do our best to discern the truth,” he drones, sounding bored, like he’s said this exact speech several times today already. “I or one of my colleagues will be in touch if we need anything more.”

And with that, he vanishes, leaving behind more of that angel smell and a bitter taste in Hakyeon’s mouth.

“Are they really colleagues?” Wonshik wonders aloud, flopping sideways onto Hongbin’s lap. “Wouldn’t they be more like, I don’t know, brothers?”

Hakyeon rolls his eyes and shifts back into jeans and a t-shirt, getting back up off the sofa to go into the kitchen once more. “They’re fucking creepy. It’s the eyes. They’re so soulless.”

He grabs a red bull for himself and tosses the other two cans of coke, ignoring Wonshik’s pointed glare at him ( _"nephilim have those eyes too, you know,"_ Hakyeon can hear him saying) and rolling his neck. “Should we go and feed?” he asks, wandering back over to the other two and sagging onto the sofa, leaning on Hongbin, who pulls him closer automatically. “I’m getting bored of not doing anything. Maybe I should get a day job.”

Wonshik snorts. “Fucking everything with a pulse is getting boring? Who knew.”

“Asshole,” Hakyeon snaps back automatically, taking a long sip of his red bull. “You’re just jealous because I only fuck people _with_ a pulse, meaning you’re excluded.”

“Ew,” Wonshik says, wrinkling his nose. “I wouldn’t touch you with a ten foot pole.”

Hakyeon sits up, accidentally clipping Hongbin in the chin with his shoulder on the way. “That’s a fucking lie! I bet if I shapeshifted into a girl you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference because you’re a –”

He doesn’t get to finish his sentence because there’s a flare of magic, magic that Hakyeon _knows_ because he’s dreamt of it for the past two weeks every single night without fail – and then Jaehwan’s standing right where Taekwoon had been. His wings are out, spread wide, and his eyes are a deep black.

“Fuck,” Hakyeon blurts, clutching his bottle tightly.

That’s about when it all goes to shit.

Wonshik shoves him back onto the sofa, yelling at Hongbin to get up. The both of them extend their fangs, their eyes red, and hiss savagely at Jaehwan, who crouches, his eyes flashing. Jaehwan’s magic is everywhere, surrounding them, and while Hakyeon is oddly comforted he can tell it unnerves the vampires. Hakyeon doesn’t even have a chance to speak before Wonshik and Hongbin begin to move, circling Jaehwan like he’s fucking prey.

“Enough,” Hakyeon yells, standing up, hyper-aware of how things could go very, very badly if he doesn’t get the situation under control.

He grabs the nearest person, who turns out to be Hongbin, and jerks him close. Hongbin snarls at him, he actually _snarls_ at him, so Hakyeon pinches him on the arm hard enough to draw blood. The scent of that jerks Hongbin out of his rage, and his eyes fade back to brown; without even hesitating, Hakyeon whirls and jabs Wonshik in the side, making them both look at him instead of Jaehwan.

“What the fuck is he doing here?” Wonshik growls, clenching and unclenching his fists like he’s about to leap over and punch Jaehwan in the face.

Hakyeon looks at Jaehwan, who’s now wrapped his wings around himself and looks very small. “I don’t know. Maybe if you’d asked him instead of going to tear his fucking throat out you’d have an answer.”

Wonshik frowns. “What the hell was I meant to do? Offer him a drink, ask him about his day?”

“You know what? Maybe!” Hakyeon snaps, splaying his hands on Wonshik’s chest and shoving him back a few steps. “Maybe he’s not as bad as you think. Maybe he’s just trying to live his fucking life without getting attacked.”

Wonshik scowls, and Hakyeon’s never seen such a derisive look directed at him before. Hakyeon wants to explain, wants to justify his relentless and persistent defense of Jaehwan – even though it’s entirely baseless and he’s not even sure _why_ he’s doing it – but Wonshik just turns away and yanks open Hakyeon’s front door so violently it bangs against the wall, making everyone jump. “I’ll see you later,” he mutters over his shoulder, in a tone that makes it clear that the discussion isn’t over.

Hongbin hesitates for only a moment before following somewhat reluctantly, shooting Hakyeon a guilty look over his shoulder as he goes. “Sorry, hyung,” he whispers, just loud enough for him to hear, before he’s gone.

Hakyeon sags, all the adrenaline running through his veins evaporating now that the threat is gone. It’s only early, still, only around 10 pm, but he’s fucking exhausted and just wants to go to bed and sleep for a week. “What are you doing here?” he asks quietly, looking evenly at Jaehwan.

Unwrapping his wings and shifting them away, Jaehwan’s eyes fade back to their regular brown, and he takes an unsteady step forward. Hakyeon puts his hand out, shaking his head, as much as it hurts him to do. “No, stay there. If you come any closer I don’t think I can control myself.”

 _Weak, weak._ He’s fucking weak, but how can he not be when Jaehwan’s standing in front of him looking so damn good that his lust hits him hard, his tattoos almost glowing in the low light. He’s wearing a t-shirt and jeans, and his hair is messy; he looks like he just rolled out of bed.

“I… I sensed a true immortal,” Jaehwan says, and he smiles ruefully. “I thought it was a demon or an angel. I thought you were in trouble.”

He can hear Sanghyuk’s voice in his head saying _oh, hyung, you’re so gone_ , but ignores it and takes a tentative step closer. “You were rushing in to protect me?”

“You don’t need protecting,” Jaehwan replies, raising an eyebrow. “But yes. I thought I could help. I didn’t expect two very angry vampires, though.”

Hakyeon runs his hand through his hair and sighs, allowing himself another step forward. “Yeah, sorry about that. They’re kinda… They don’t like true immortals much. Especially nephilim. You weren’t wrong, though, an angel was here earlier.”

Jaehwan doesn’t move, but his eyes sweep Hakyeon’s body from head to toe, slowly, and Hakyeon shivers at the burn of his gaze. “An angel? Why?”

Crossing the remaining distance between them in two steps, Hakyeon slides his arms around Jaehwan’s waist and sighs as Jaehwan reciprocates the hug. It’s absolutely ridiculous that Jaehwan feels like home as much as he does, and he hates that he gives in so easily. Jaehwan nuzzles his hair and he shivers, slipping his hands under Jaehwan’s shirt to splay his hands on Jaehwan’s broad back. They’re a complete oasis of peace, so separate from the rest of the world that they may as well be the only two people left on earth. Hakyeon just can’t bring himself to care about immortal politics, or how Wonshik is going to yell at him, or how even Sanghyuk might quirk an eyebrow. It all doesn’t fucking matter, not when he’s got Jaehwan this close.

“We found a body,” Hakyeon murmurs into Jaehwan’s shoulder. “A succubus… She was killed. Her throat slit. The angel was asking questions.”

 _My friends think you did it_ , is what he doesn’t say, but Jaehwan’s smart and reads it in the way he stiffens and pulls back slightly. “I’m sorry,” he says, and he sounds genuinely pained. “Did you know her?”

“No. Mercifully,” Hakyeon replies, closing his eyes.

They stand there for a moment before Hakyeon disentangles himself from Jaehwan’s arms slowly. As right as this feels, he knows in his heart Wonshik’s right – Jaehwan’s dangerous. It’s just who he is. Nephilim are rogue, they’re mad and crazy and suit any other adjective you’d care to use – they all fit. Hakyeon thinks he gets it, that maybe he’d be angry and murderous if, century after century, he was hunted endlessly too. But that’s not him, and he isn’t someone who lets his heart rule over his head, never has been.

“You should go,” he says, looking Jaehwan in the eyes. “I’m okay.”

Jaehwan smiles, but it’s a sad kind of smile, and he shrugs somewhat dejectedly. “Fine. But you know how to find me, little incubus,” he says with a smile, before blinking away.

Hakyeon sags onto the floor, folding his legs underneath him gracefully. _I have no idea how to find you and maybe that’s for the best_ , he thinks, biting his lip. There’s no point pretending this is just about sex, now, because as much as he wants Jaehwan to throw him up against a wall and fuck him until Hakyeon’s hoarse from screaming his name it goes beyond that. Maybe it has since the beginning. He can’t quite tell, but all he knows is he’s not stupid and he’s not irresponsible and he won’t get involved with someone who _is_.

That’s what he tells himself as he gets into bed robotically, curling up under the covers with a book in an attempt to distract himself from dissecting his snarled up feelings, because he doesn’t even know where to begin with them.

//

Two weeks pass.

Hakyeon spends the whole time holed up in his apartment, devouring book after book after book and generally throwing himself into the world of fiction instead of facing the real world. He almost wishes he could go back to a month ago when life was normal and he didn’t see Jaehwan’s face every time he closed his eyes, but time doesn’t work that way and he has to live with the consequences. He even avoids hunting, only going once to a club and going home with the first person who approaches him, a girl who is so deliciously feminine it’s easy to lose himself in her and forget about Jaehwan for a while.

He finds himself in a cab on a Saturday night, needing to get out of the stifling air of his apartment, which suddenly felt very claustrophobic. He looks down at his phone, at the messages that sit ignored in his inbox. There’s one from Sanghyuk, just a _‘hyung? how’s things with your nephilim? keep me in the loop x’_. There’s one from Wonshik: _‘please call me’_. And two from Hongbin: _‘please talk to wonshik hyung, he’s upset’_ and _‘seriously hakyeon hyung, stop ghosting us’._

Hakyeon rests his head on the window, staring out at the wet streets as the taxi glides along. It’s not that he wants to ignore them, it’s just that he doesn’t really know what to say because he doesn’t know how he’s feeling, in regards to anything. The dead succubus keeps floating back into his mind as much as he wishes she wouldn’t, and there’s the constant question of _what if?_ hanging over his head – what if Jaehwan really did do it, what if he didn’t, what if Hakyeon’s actually got feelings for him? It’s torturous, and his brain won’t stop going in endless circles like a dog chasing its tail.

The taxi driver drops him off in Hongdae, and he makes his way to a favourite bar of his, a quiet, hole-in-the-wall place that even Wonshik doesn’t know. The bartender nods to him as he enters and takes a seat at the bar, fiddling with his phone restlessly. His skin is crawling, and he knows he won’t stay here for long; he needs to hunt, needs to be overcome with lust and forget about everything for a while. At least feeding is always a constant, the one thing that never changes. He downs one gin and tonic quickly and nurses another for a while, people watching but not making any moves. Tonight he wants to dance, and this isn’t the place for that.

By the time he makes his way to a club, the world is slightly hazy. The rain has stopped, but the footpaths are still wet, and the reflections of the lights in the puddles is almost mesmerising; he has to tear himself away from staring at the ground like a child to head inside, downstairs into the thudding bass and air of hedonism that he craves so much. He downs two shots in quick succession before heading to the dance floor, picking a spot and beginning to dance.

Yes, _yes_. This is easy, this is natural, and this is what he’ll always know regardless of vampires or nephilim or humans; dancing is like breathing, and tonight he feels particularly ethereal, like he’s about to fade away, like he’s no more solid than the water evaporating outside. It’s a delicious feeling, and he smiles to himself as he dances, not caring that he probably looks mad. No one approaches him, but lots of people watch him, and that’s enough for the moment.

He’s just about to give up and start hunting properly – he can feel human gazes on him, hot and prickly and begging for sex – when strong arms slide around his torso and he sighs, leaning back into the touch. Hands slip under his shirt to settle on his hips, and Hakyeon covers them with his own, the touch so startlingly familiar that it strikes a chord somewhere deep inside of him. “Jaehwan,” he murmurs quietly, too quiet for mortal ears to hear over the music. “Why are you here?”

“You know why,” Jaehwan whispers in his ear, turning Hakyeon around gently so they’re face-to-face.

Hakyeon doesn’t know why – Jaehwan’s still a mystery to him, still stubbornly refusing to reveal his intentions – but he doesn’t particularly care, not when he’s still tipsy and when Jaehwan’s so warm. Tonight he’s wearing a t-shirt with a wide neckline, and dreamily Hakyeon reaches out to run a finger over the line of his nearest tattoo. “Will you ever stop following me?”

“When you want me to, little incubus,” Jaehwan replies evenly, and Hakyeon shivers.

 _How do you know me better than I know myself?_ is what he wants to ask, but closes his eyes instead. “Take me somewhere.”

There’s a rush of air and magic, so familiar that Hakyeon smiles hopelessly and leans into Jaehwan, wondering how on earth his life ended up this way but somehow not caring all that much. When he opens his eyes again the club is gone and they’re in a different apartment. This one is lived in, the blankets on the bed messy and shoved into a ball, piles of clothes on the floor. Hakyeon realises instantly this is Jaehwan’s real apartment, must be, and the trust implicit in bringing him here is almost too much. Slipping his hand under Jaehwan’s shirt to drag his nails gently down the nephilim’s back, he once again feels like he’s going deliciously, wonderfully mad.

“Fuck me,” he says, not caring that he sounds needy – they’re well beyond that, now.

Jaehwan kisses him, and Hakyeon sighs into his mouth, tugging at the hem of his shirt. There’s no energy, not even the slightest hint, but he doesn’t even mind, not when Jaehwan’s hands are so solidly warm on his waist, holding him to the earth, holding him in the moment.

They strip slowly, languidly, not even bothering to shift their clothes away because there’s no hurry, not anymore. Jaehwan pushes him gently towards the bed once they’re both naked, and Hakyeon tugs him down impatiently, craving the feeling of Jaehwan’s skin on his; there’s nothing quite like it, and when he whines and arches up into Jaehwan, the nephilim just laughs into the spot where his shoulder meets his neck and Hakyeon drinks it in.

Hakyeon rolls Jaehwan over on the bed and sits on top of him, looking down at him. This time when he thinks _mine_ there’s no possessiveness, just a sweet knowledge between the two of them. “Why are your tattoos so sensitive?” he whispers, tracing the line of the nearest leaf, feeling the power humming there. “What are they meant to even do?”

“They were meant to temper my powers. I wasn’t meant to be able to teleport. I wasn’t meant to have wings. I wasn’t meant to be this,” Jaehwan replies, but his voice isn’t as steady as it was and Hakyeon knows it’s because of _him_.

Hakyeon is quiet for a moment, before he wraps his hand around Jaehwan’s cock, making him gasp and writhe underneath him. “I’m glad you are. I don’t want you to be anything else.”

It’s as close as a confession as Jaehwan’s going to get, and when Jaehwan flips them over and kisses his way down Hakyeon’s chest and belly to take Hakyeon’s cock in his mouth he can read the satisfaction in Jaehwan’s eyes. Then he can’t read anything at all, because he’s too busy thrusting up into the hot wetness of Jaehwan’s mouth, his hand yanking at Jaehwan’s hair. Jaehwan doesn’t let him come, though, pulling away and wiping his mouth on the back of his hand and laughing when Hakyeon groans and pulls him closer.

When Jaehwan slips two fingers inside of him he thinks he’s going to die, and that’s only compounded when Jaehwan rolls him over on the bed so he’s face down and bites the inside of Hakyeon’s thigh, his teeth sharp and painful, making Hakyeon rock his hips. “Don’t fucking tease me,” he gasps, and is rewarded with Jaehwan’s laugh.

Jaehwan shoves a pillow under Hakyeon’s hips before dragging him closer, aligning himself and pushing his cock into Hakyeon smoothly, quickly. Hakyeon writhes, arching his back, fingers scrabbling for purchase on the sheets. Never before has he met someone who fits with him as well as Jaehwan does, and it’s more than just the way they fuck, Jaehwan rolling his hips slowly like he _knows_ what he does to Hakyeon. Not that it’s hard to see when Hakyeon’s begging for more, his voice hoarse and needy, Jaehwan’s name tumbling from his lips over and over until it’s the only word he knows. When Jaehwan leans down to press kisses down the line of Hakyeon’s spine he shivers and thinks that this is all he’ll ever need from anyone.

“Jaehwan,” he moans, wrecked, empty, turning his head to the side so he can see Jaehwan out of his peripheral. “Please.”

Chuckling, Jaehwan’s hands tighten on Hakyeon’s hips. “So needy,” he says, but he sounds haggard and when he thrusts it’s with more force than strictly necessary.

Jaehwan comes with a cry of Hakyeon’s name, such a sweet sound that tempers the air between them. Jaehwan drops his shields again, but his power is no longer terrifying – now it’s just beautiful, and Hakyeon drinks it in like it’s the last time. He whines when Jaehwan pulls away, his cock leaking precome on the pillow that Jaehwan’d shoved under him; obediently, Jaehwan rolls him over and goes down on him again, closing his eyes when Hakyeon comes into his mouth, swallowing it all and kissing Hakyeon afterwards so he can taste himself on Jaehwan’s tongue.

“What are you?” Jaehwan says when they’re laying on the bed facing each other, sweaty and spent.

Hakyeon smiles tiredly. _I could ask you the same thing,_ he thinks, and runs a hand through Jaehwan’s hair, pushing it away from his face. “I’m an incubus,” he replies, even though he knows that’s not what Jaehwan meant.

They don’t say anything more as they drift slowly off into sleep together; there’s no need to, not really. In his slightly-tipsy state, Hakyeon is well beyond the point of no return, now, and knows that he and Jaehwan will always come back to each other like this. Why wouldn’t they, when they can’t seem to stop falling into each other’s orbits? Perhaps they’re destined to do this, or perhaps it’s just circumstance, but as Hakyeon pulls Jaehwan closer and buries his face in Jaehwan’s hair, he realises he doesn’t really mind either way.

//

The sunlight coming in through the blinds and hitting him square in the face is what makes Hakyeon wake up, and for a moment he’s confused by the arm around his waist, the warm body at his back. It’s not like him to get sloppy and fall asleep at a mortal’s place. Normally he likes to leave as soon as he’s got his fix, let them sleep it off. But then he realises he’s got a huge black wing tucked around him, too, and the events of last night come back to him.

He slides out of bed carefully, managing to extricate himself from Jaehwan’s arms, before padding into the bathroom and splashing cold water on his face. He looks the same as he always does, but there’s something different that he can’t quite put his finger on, that he doesn’t know if he likes. Did he really give into Jaehwan that easily? The thought both horrifies him and fascinates him, and although there’s worse people to wake up to in the morning light Wonshik’s disapproving face floats into his mind and he blanches with guilt. _What if, what if?_

Jaehwan is sitting up when he returns, and his wings are wrapped around himself so all Hakyeon can see is his head poking out of a mass of black feathers. He looks beautiful in the early morning like this, like some sort of god, his features chiselled perfectly, and Hakyeon cracks a sad smile.

“Are you leaving again, little incubus?” he croaks, rubbing his eyes.

Hakyeon doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t really need to, not when he’s shifted on clothes and is standing uncomfortably at the foot of the bed. Jaehwan just smiles wryly at him and shakes his head. “You have to stop running away at some point, you know.”

“I know,” Hakyeon whispers, feeling very small as he turns away and lets himself out.

When he’s out on the street, he reaches for his phone and stares at it, biting his lip. he can’t quite bring himself to text Wonshik now, especially in the light of day when all his sins are laid bare. Not that it’d matter, since it’s daytime and Wonshik is dead to the world, but Hakyeon skips over his number, and Hongbin’s, too, before clicking onto Sanghyuk’s.

 _are you awake?_ he shoots off, walking slowly towards the train station.

Sanghyuk replies when he’s buying his ticket: _am now. why?_ Hakyeon smiles down at the message, picturing Sanghyuk reaching blearily for his phone, only one eye open – he’s the exact opposite of a morning person.

 _Want breakfast?_ he replies, his fingers moving quickly over the keys. This time, the response is nearly instant: _hell yes._

//

Hakyeon lets himself into the apartment with the key that Sanghyuk hides under the doormat, putting the coffees and croissants he’d gotten down on the kitchen island before toeing off his shoes and heading for the bedroom. Sanghyuk has, predictably, fallen back asleep, and Hakyeon shifts away his shirt as he slips into bed with him and presses quick biting kisses up his shoulder and neck, startling him awake.

“Hyung?” he says, sleepily, reaching for Hakyeon automatically. “What are you –”

Hakyeon grabs him by the hair and pulls him in for a rough kiss, feeling Sanghyuk respond in kind instantly, reaching for Hakyeon to pull him close. Everything about Sanghyuk is so safely mortal – his smell, his pulse leaping underneath Hakyeon’s touches, the barest hint of energy that starts to flow into Hakyeon – that Hakyeon _lives_ for it, trailing a hand down the sweep of Sanghyuk’s waist to dig his nails into his hip, making him gasp and shift.

“What the hell’s got into you?” Sanghyuk wonders aloud as Hakyeon bites him on the neck, the collarbone, the shoulder. “You’re fucking _glowing_ , did you just feed?”

“Shut up,” Hakyeon growls, biting Sanghyuk just below his nipple.

He kisses Sanghyuk until he’s bucking his hips into Hakyeon, wanting more, until his eyes are glassy and unfocused and he’s gasping. It’s easy to make Sanghyuk come undone, easy and familiar, and when Hakyeon tells him to get up against the wall he obeys, eyes wide like he still can’t quite believe what’s happening. He doesn’t really need to feed, not really, but Sanghyuk’s here and he’s easy and he looks gorgeous pressed up against the wall, shivering slightly.

“Does this have something to do with your nephilim?” he asks, his eyes following Hakyeon as he grabs the lube and uncaps it, squirting some on his fingers.

Hakyeon yanks his head back to expose his throat, smirking at the way he moans, and growls. “I told you to shut up.”

Sanghyuk hisses lowly when Hakyeon slides a finger inside him, and Hakyeon breathes in the energy, his eyes glowing a fierce yellow. He waits until Sanghyuk relaxes around him before adding another, moving his fingers torturously slowly, holding Sanghyuk’s hips away from the wall so he can’t get any pressure on his dick at all. It’s cruel of him, but this is the way Sanghyuk likes it, and it’s so different to Jaehwan that it’s exactly what Hakyeon needs to forget. When he winds his hand in Sanghyuk’s hair to pull his head back, sliding his cock into Sanghyuk in one smooth swift movement, Sanghyuk splays his hands on the wall and makes a choked noise.

“Hyung, jesus _christ_ ,” he groans, arching back into Hakyeon as Hakyeon fucks him, thrusts sharp and shallow and quick.

Sanghyuk’s energy is steadily flowing into him, now, and they’ve done this enough that Hakyeon now gets little flashes of _something_ beyond just energy – bits and pieces of Sanghyuk’s thoughts, what he’s feeling. Right now it’s all just pleasure, but there’s worry there too, worry for Hakyeon. Seeing himself through Sanghyuk’s eyes is always interesting, especially when right now he’s bursting with Jaehwan’s energy – he looks more gorgeous than humanly possible, and Sanghyuk can barely handle it.

“Touch yourself,” Hakyeon growls, a command.

Jerkily, Sanghyuk does, taking one hand off the wall to close around his dick, fucking the circle of his hand tightly as Hakyeon comes more and more undone. They’re both close, but Sanghyuk gets there first, and when he comes it’s to a whimpered cry of “ _hyung_ ,” come spilling on his fingers. The energy flowing into Hakyeon peaks, and that triggers his own orgasm. He moans as Sanghyuk clenches around him, riding the aftershocks, clawing at the wall.

Hakyeon’s feeding effect is instant, and the moment he pulls out of Sanghyuk he wobbles dangerously, sagging against the wall and using it to hold himself up. Hakyeon takes pity on him and hooks his hand under Sanghyuk’s elbow to hold him up and guide him towards the bed, where he collapses face down and groans loudly.

“What the fuck. I need a cigarette,” he says, but it’s muffled because he’s got his head buried in a pillow.

Hakyeon rolls his eyes, but sits on the bed next to Sanghyuk and strokes his back soothingly. “You don’t even smoke.”

“I should take it up,” Sanghyuk shoots back, rolling over and mock-glaring up at Hakyeon. “You’ve taken so many years off my life that I’m probably going to die next year. I may as well go all out. Maybe I’ll start doing heroin as well.”

“You won’t die next year. You’re _not_ doing heroin. And you’re not even taking up smoking,” Hakyeon chides, jabbing Sanghyuk in the side gently before lying down next to him and staring up at the ceiling.

Sanghyuk rolls over so he can rest his head on Hakyeon’s chest, and they lie like that for a while, Hakyeon playing with Sanghyuk’s hair absentmindedly. In fact, it’s so comfortable and nice that they both drift off to sleep, him buoyed by Sanghyuk’s energy and Sanghyuk just exhausted from being fed on. He sleeps restlessly and dreams of wings and black eyes and fangs, and when he wakes up Sanghyuk’s sitting cross legged on the bed, dressed, watching him.

Hakyeon groans and rolls over, burying his head in a pillow, a mirror of Sanghyuk earlier. Sanghyuk, for his part, just laughs and pats Hakyeon on the head, shoving the takeaway cup of coffee in his face. It’s warm when he takes it – Sanghyuk must have microwaved it – and he takes a grateful swallow.

“You gonna tell me what’s going on, hyung?” he asks curiously. “It’s gotta be the nephilim, right?”

Hakyeon sits up and pushes his hair off his face, looking at Sanghyuk and blowing air out through his mouth dramatically. “Yeah. I saw him last night.”

He tells Sanghyuk the whole sad, sorry tale, starting with the dead succubus in the alley and ending with the way Jaehwan had fucked him, slowly and gently, full of affection. Sanghyuk’s eyes widen with each escalation, shocked, but by the end he’s looking at Hakyeon with complete undisguised pity, and he’s holding Hakyeon’s hand.

“Oh, hyung,” he whispers, and shakes his head. “You’re _so_ gone.”

There’s no point denying it anymore, no point even pretending he’s not when he can’t stop thinking about Jaehwan, so he just nods and bites off a laugh. With the way Jaehwan looked at him last night, the way he _touched_ him, Hakyeon doesn’t believe he did kill that succubus in the alley. He doesn’t believe Jaehwan would kill anyone in anything other than self-defence. Perhaps it’s stupid of him to put so much blind faith in a creature that’s known to be dangerous, but somewhere in his heart he trusts Jaehwan and that’s just a fact that can’t be changed.

“What the fuck do I do?” he asks, finishing his coffee in one long swallow and looking at his hands like he’s not sure he’s still himself. Old Hakyeon would never do anything this stupid, but then Old Hakyeon hadn’t met Jaehwan, either, felt how magnetic he is.

Sanghyuk smiles and cups Hakyeon’s cheek. “You go home and sleep – properly sleep, in your own bed. And then when it’s night, call Hongbin and Wonshik.” He sees Hakyeon open his mouth to protest, and cuts him off with a finger over his mouth that Hakyeon nips at playfully. “You need your best friends by your side. That’s just a fact. And then you go and meet Jaehwan in a public place during the day and you sit down and _talk_ about it. For fuck’s sake, hyung, you’re nearly four hundred and he’s – how old is he?”

“Not a clue,” Hakyeon replies, shrugging. “He was born, but I don’t know when, and I haven’t asked. He’s older than me though.”

“The point being that between you, you have a metric fuckton of years and you’re still acting like teenagers. If you sit down and talk this out, things might work out,” Sanghyuk finishes wisely.

Hakyeon just looks at him for a moment before sighing. It’s annoying when Sanghyuk gets so preachy, because most of the time he’s right. “How the fuck did you get so wise beyond your years?” he mutters under his breath as he clambers off the bed, shifting his clothes back on.

“It’s your influence,” Sanghyuk replies cheekily, getting up and following Hakyeon out into the kitchen.

//

So that’s exactly what Hakyeon does. When he gets home he collapses into his own bed and sleeps, not dreaming of anything at all. He wakes just before sunset and sends off a text to Wonshik and Hongbin, telling them to call him when he wakes up, and then decides to clean his whole apartment. Something about scrubbing grout from the tiles is weirdly therapeutic, and when his phone goes off with the special text tone he’d assigned to Wonshik – it’s an alarm blaring, which Hongbin finds hysterical – he realises he’s spent so long cleaning it’s well into nighttime.

Hauling himself off the floor, he pads into the living room, peeling off his rubber gloves and dumping them on the kitchen bench as he scoops up his phone. The message from Wonshik is garbled, just a string of random letters and numbers that makes Hakyeon frown at his phone. Is Wonshik pocket-dialing him? He starts texting back but only gets so far as _what the f_ before another message comes through.

_found a dead incubus. smells like true immortal again._

The phone drops from his hands and clatters to the floor, and he’s sure the screen is cracked by the nasty noise it makes. But he doesn’t care, can’t look at anything beyond his own trembling hands. _Another_ one? Another attack on his kind? But _why?_ Who would go around killing false immortals? _It’s not Jaehwan_ , he tells himself, bending down to pick up the phone. _It’s not Jaehwan. It can’t be._

 _what the fuck? ring me_ , he texts back, and then nibbles at his lip nervously. Dead immortals aren’t heard of, but it’s usually vampires hunted by humans or killed by each other in territory squabbles, not succubi and incubi, who are generally pretty peaceful. _and get inside_ , he adds in another text, pushing off the bench to head to the bedroom. He needs to see them, needs to know that they’re alright, needs to know what happened. He can’t shake the feeling that all of this is somehow connected to him, which is absurd because he hasn’t done _anything_ worthy of any of this.

 _You fucked Jaehwan,_ a niggling voice reminds him unhelpfully as he shoves his feet in his shoes, too shellshocked to think about shapeshifting and going through the human movements instead. _You fucked him twice. A lot of people don’t like that._

Enough to murder, though? Enough to send him a message that way? He just doesn’t know, and suddenly he’s sick of being left in the fucking dark. He hates angels, but the next time he sees one he’s going to grab it and demand that it get to the bottom of this. They shouldn’t have to walk around living their lives in fear – _he_ shouldn’t have to.

He scoops his keys off the bowl in the hall and looks at himself in the mirror. He looks shockingly pale, and feels it, too – after all he’s been through lately, can’t he just have a moment’s peace without someone coming along and fucking it all up? Apparently not, because it seems the universe has it out for him. He’s just about to open his front door when there’s a loud _thump_ against it, making the whole thing shake, and he gasps and steps back.

He can’t feel any immortals outside, and Wonshik and Hongbin would know better than to pull pranks at a time like this. His heart is pounding out of his chest as he stares at his door, like behind it is going to be the murderer himself, coming for Hakyeon next. _Don’t be stupid_ , he tells himself, and steels himself before closing his fingers around the handle and pulling it open.

Blood, there’s so much blood, it’s _everywhere_. That’s the first thing he notices, the thick, tangy, heavy scent of it. Then he focuses on what he’s looking at it, but the image is so horrific he has to stare at it for a few seconds before the pieces begin to arrange themselves. Jaehwan, dripping in blood, looking stunned. There’s a body in his arms, and there’s blood dripping all over the fucking floor. No, not a body, it’s _alive_ , it moves and it moans and Hakyeon stops. He just stops.

He knows that moan.

“Hakyeon,” Jaehwan cries, trying to get his attention, but he sounds so very far away, almost like he’s underwater. “Hakyeon, I found him like this, I didn’t do this, I swear I didn’t do this, I found him like this, please believe me.” Hakyeon shakes his head, completely mute. The body moans again, shifting, and Jaehwan closes his eyes. “He doesn’t have much time left, Hakyeon, _please.”_

It’s Sanghyuk lying in Jaehwan’s arms, covered in his own blood, moaning and twitching helplessly as he dies.

“Let me _in,”_ Jaehwan roars, shouldering past Hakyeon and putting Sanghyuk down on the floor unceremoniously. He’s saying more things, but they’re muffled and Hakyeon doesn’t care, stares at the smear of blood left on his shoulder from Jaehwan touching him. When he rubs his finger in it and sticks it in his mouth, it tastes so much like Sanghyuk he starts to cry, stupidly. _Weak, you’re fucking weak._

“Hakyeon,” Jaehwan bellows, and Sanghyuk takes a gurgling gasp from behind him. It’s the sound of a dying man, and Hakyeon knows he’ll hear that fucking sound in his nightmares for the rest of his life. “Hakyeon, I can’t save him, I can’t, I don’t know what to _do…”_

 _That makes two of us_ , thinks Hakyeon as he turns.

**Author's Note:**

> my excuse for churning this one out so quickly after the last one (it took me less than 24 hours lmao) is that, for most of it, I was trapped on a plane for 15 hours... and what else do I do on a plane except write? and sleep, but there wasn't much of that going on LOL
> 
> thanks for reading ♡


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